---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 1339"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "1339"
heading: "Limitation of authority"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/1339"
units:
  - "Chapter 30 — Wild Horses and Burros: Protection, Management, and Control"
---

# §1339. Limitation of authority


Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize the [Secretary](/usc/16/1332.md?p=a) to relocate wild free-roaming horses or burros to [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) of the [public lands](/usc/16/1332.md?p=e) where they do not presently exist.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 92–195, § 10, formerly § 9, Dec. 15, 1971, 85 Stat. 651, renumbered Pub. L. 94–579, title IV, § 404, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2775.)